The Adventure of Radek and Elizabeth
by d'Kathethan
Summary: A trip to an Ancient ruin has unexpected consequences.
1. Chapter 1

Story set sometime in season 2. No spoilers. I do not own any part of Stargate: Atlantis, and make no money from this. Unbeated, so any mistakes are my own. Let me know what you think.

"What do you mean they 'disappeared'? You were supposed to be keeping an eye on them, not letting them run around on their own!"

Colonel John Sheppard was not a happy man. Major Lorne had just come through the gate and informed him that Drs. Weir and Zelenka were missing. Some days it just didn't pay to get out of bed.

"We _were_ keeping an eye on them sir. We had just gotten to the ruins. Sergeant Cyncad had taken point, and had just entered. Drs. Weir and Zelenka were right behind him, and I was right behind them. They had just entered when there was a flash of light and they were both just _gone _and Dr. Zelenka's backpack was on the floor along with his 9mil and their radios. Just like that."

John looked mulish, and then nodded. "Debrief in 10 minutes."

_I should have gone with them. I shouldn't have sent Radek and Elizabeth out with such a light escort, no matter that the planet was uninhabited. Something _always_ goes wrong! I should have told Beckett that I was going, and that he could take it or leave it._

Unfortunately, Beckett was right. A man with his arm in a sling and one eye swollen shut had no place going off world. Knowing that didn't make him feel any better. _This is all Rodney's fault,_ came the bitter thought, as he made his way to the briefing room to hear in more detail that he had failed one of his good friends and the leader of Atlantis.

"Incompetent doesn't even begin to describe you! How hard can it be to look out for two people Major? Two!"

_Rodney's in fine form_, thought John as Lorne started to report about what had happened on the planet. Maybe his broken leg was contributing to his snarkiness, but with Rodney it was sometimes hard to tell.

"Rodney, we've been through this already. Let Lorne speak, so we can figure out what happened, and how to get them back."

Rodney just gave him a look of disbelief.

"Sheppard, this is _Radek_ and _Elizabeth_. Our leader, and Dr. Jumps-a-lot. Radek shouldn't have even been there, you know what he's like off world, and Elizabeth isn't much better. Besides, Radek isn't the person who should have been looking at those ruins…"

"Well, we all know why he was there don't we Rodney," said John, before he could stop himself. It was only sort of Rodney's fault after all.

_Two days previous_

SGA-1 ran like they had never run before. The fact that a pack of very large, very mean and very hungry lion like things was chasing them may have had a small part in that. Rodney had so far managed to keep up, but was starting to lag behind. John had slowed down to keep him going, and so he wasn't left alone.

"McKay! Hurry it up, we don't want the cats to catch us."

Rodney, having no breath to spare, just glared at Sheppard and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as he could, and that's when it happened.

It would have been funny if it had happened any other time. Rodney had to look up to glare at John, and as he did, he missed the large root lying in his path. His foot got caught underneath, and he went flying forward. Unfortunately, his foot stayed right where it was, breaking his leg. John tried to catch him before he fell, but that doesn't work so well when running for your life. Rodney grabbed onto him, and that, coupled with his forward momentum pulled him off balance, and he fell over Rodney. He landed awkwardly, hearing a snap and feeling an intense pain in his left arm. Somewhere in the confusion, Rodney also managed to either punch or elbow him in the face. Hard. They lay there, panting and in pain for a few moments until their brains started working again. _Bloody hell, the cats_.

In the end, it was a good thing Ronon was so fast. He managed to deter the cats from coming any closer as he and Teyla helped John and Rodney up, and back to the gate.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" demanded Rodney, as Teyla dialled the gate back to Atlantis. Ronon just gave him a look.

The next day, Major Lorne reported an Ancient ruin covered in writing and emitting an energy signature. Rodney naturally wanted to go, but Beckett had grounded him for a week to let his broken leg heal. Sheppard was also grounded for a few days, until his black eye and broken arm healed.

Elizabeth wanted a team out there as soon as possible, and asked Zelenka if he would go instead of McKay. It had taken some persuading on her part, for Zelenka was well known for his dislike of going off-world. She had also then insisted on going herself to translate the writing. John hadn't wanted to let her go, but she had a rebuttal for every reason he came up with for her not going. He should know by now that he would not be able to stop her from doing something she wanted. He wouldn't even be able to assign a large number of extra guards because she would protest that as well. He would be able to assign a hand-picked team, but not much more than that.

That was why he stood in Elizabeth's spot as wished her good luck the next day. He had a bad feeling about this.

Elizabeth stood in the gate room fairly quivering with excitement. She hardly ever went off-world, and she was looking forward to doing something other than administration tasks for a change. She was early, but everyone except Dr. Zelenka was there. She had thought that he would be the last one to arrive. Atthough he would try to delay going for as long as he could, he wouldn't be late.

She heard rapidly approaching footsteps, and Radek slid around the corner, tac vest undone, hair flying in all directions, and trying not to drop various pieces of equipment. He looked a little sheepish, and Elizabeth took pity on him, taking the laptop he was trying not to drop. She rather liked the quiet engineer with the ability to go toe to toe with Rodney and if not win, then at least hold his own. He gave her a grateful look and did up his vest. Finally ready to go, they looked to John, and the gate started to dial.

"Now, Sergeant Cyncad will take point, and then you, Dr. Zelenka with Dr. Weir, and I'll bring up the rear. The ruins are an easy walk from the gate. This is supposed to be an uninhabited world, but take no chances. Stay close, try not to get seperated." Major Lorne was a little leery about this mission. He knew that neither of the civilians had very much off world experience, and he was taking no chances with their safety.

Radek was nervous about this mission. He had allowed Elizabeth to talk him into going, against his better judgment. When he found out she was going as well, he felt a little better about being persuaded. He would never admit it, but he was a little bit infatuated with her. A chance to spend time with her, even if it meant going off world, was not to be missed. He gathered his equipment, and by the time Rodney stopped haranguing him about what needed to be done, as if he didn't know, he had to run or he would be late. He tried not to drop anything as he tried to do up his vest, and Elizabeth had to help him. He was embarrassed that he needed her help, but before he could say anything, the gate opened with its kawoosh and they stepped through into bright sunlight and warmth.

As they got close to the ruin, Elizabeth grew more excited. The weather was perfect, and the planet was beautiful. She was already starting to relax, and was enjoying the stroll.

They finally got to the ruins, and Sergeant Cyncad went in first to make sure nothing dangerous was in there. Elizabeth and Radek were waved in a few minutes later, when he found nothing other than dust. They grinned at each other at the precautions he was taking, and stepped forward together. The last thing they saw before everything went dark was a blinding flash of light and a sensation of falling.

tbc...


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I don't own any part of Stargate Atlantis. I make no mone from this. Once again, unbetaed, so any mistakes are my own.

Elizabeth woke up slowly. She couldn't figure out why she was so cold, or why her bed was so hard and wet. All of a sudden she remembered what had happened, and her eyes popped open. There were trees everywhere, but no sign of Ancient ruins. She sat up, and her head started spinning. She closed her eyes, and felt her head. Her questing fingers found a nice sized lump on the back of her head. She didn't think anything else was wrong, other than feeling like one big bruise. She looked around trying to find Radek, and found him face down about two metres away. It looked like he had had a bit of a rougher landing than she had. His arm was twisted underneath him, she couldn't tell if it was broken or not. She crawled toward him, calling his name, and was rewarded with a groan.

"Radek? How are you feeling?"

"Elizabeth? What happened? Where are we?" His questions broke off with a sharp inhalation and a bit off curse in Czech as he rolled over onto his back.

_Well, I guess that answers the question of whether his arm is broken or not,_ came the inane thought. "Radek, I think your arm is broken, you need to stay still so I can get a look at it, and confirm that." _I'm not a doctor, I wish Carson were here. How am I supposed to set his arm if it is broken? What am I going to use? We don't have anything, do we?_

_"_Radek, do you have a first aid kit with you? I need something to use to splint your arm with."

"No. No kit, but plasters and Tylenol. Look in backpack to see what else.

That fragmented sentence told her how much he must be hurting, for his English was normally perfect except for a slight accent. She looked around for his backpack, but couldn't find it.

"Radek, I can't find the backpack. Whatever sent us here must not have sent that. Is anything else missing?"

"I no longer have weapon. We must have somehow triggered a safety device in the lab, something to transport perceived threats away before damage could be done."

_"_Radek, I have to immobilise your arm. What do you have in your pockets?"

A quick search of their pockets yielded three power bars, a bottle of Tylenol, and an assortment of junk. She looked around for anything straight that she could use as a splint. Finding two sticks that looked about the right size, she picked them up, and then grabbed Radek's arm. It looked straight, so she laid the sticks along side it, and used their belts to tie the whole thing to his arm. It wasn't very secure, but it was better than nothing. More would have to wait until they were back and Beckett could set it properly. She gave him two Tylenol, hoping that would help with the pain.

"Can you stand up? We need to try to figure out where we are and how to get home." She stood up and extended a hand to him. He looked at her, and for the first time, she noticed that his glasses were bent completely out of shape. They were still in one piece, but they would need some work before they fit right again. He extended his good hand, and she helped him to his feet. He gasped, and she realized that there was no support for his arm. _What can I use as a sling? Something to keep his arm supported. _Having no other ideas, she shrugged out of her jacket, and tied it around his neck as a makeshift sling. Once again it was not great, the hem of the jacket hung to his knees, but hopefully good enough.

As she stood, trying to figure out which direction to go, it finally sank in. They were alone, with limited supplies, no idea where they were, or how to get home, neither of them had much survival training and just to top it all off, it was raining.

_Why did this happen? Major Lorne and his team had already checked out the ruin. Nothing happened to them! Why us?_

Picking a direction at random, she and Radek started moving. Neither of them was very steady on their feet, so progress was very slow. After about an hour, they had to stop. The light was fading, and it was getting to hard to see anything.

They stopped in the shelter of a large tree, and Radek pulled out two power bars and handed one to her.

"Radek, why do you have so many power bars in your pockets?" It was unusual to find people carrying more than one.

He looked slightly embarrassed, "I work with Rodney. We quickly learned that normal human 'weaknesses' such as hunger lead to diatribes about not being dedicated enough. We all carry something to eat, so we have to leave the lab less often. I carry extra, because a hungry Rodney is a Rodney no-one should ever have to deal with."

She mock-glared at him, "Are you saying that you expected me to treat you like Rodney does? Why, Dr. Zelenka, I'm insulted." She nearly burst out laughing at the expression on his face.

"No, no, no, you would never do that. I just meant that it was habit…" his voice trailed off as he caught sight of her expression. "Oh. I see. Tease the hurt man who has just fed you."

Elizabeth couldn't help it. It wasn't really funny, but the stress of the day caught up with her and she started to laugh. Radek joined in, and they laughed until they were out of breath.

"Do you have any ideas how we are going to get home? Do you have any idea of where home _is?_" Elizabeth didn't think Radek had really thought about getting home yet, what with dealing with a broken arm and just staying on his feet, but she thought she would give it a try.

"Not yet. We shouldn't be too far away, that flash of light was probably a transporter beam, like the Asgard. That means we can't be too far from where we were. Rodney should be able to find us. Why this happened, I have no idea. It makes no sense. Major Cyncad was already inside, and the Majors team was also. Why did nothing happen then? For now, though, we must make sure we will not be Dr. Beckett's guests for very long"

Taking that as an unsubtle hint, she tore open the power bar and started eating.

Neither of them knew how to get a fire started in the rain, so they settled down in the dark to try to get some sleep. Elizabeth lay there awake, her mind moving too fast to sleep. She was trying to figure out how she and Radek could stay alive until they were found. They only had one power bar left, and no water. They had no supplies, and no way to defend themselves if needed. She hoped they would be found soon.

As the night wore on, the temperature started dropping, and she started shivering. She curled up a little, trying to keep warm. _I wish I'd 've gotten my jacket back from Radek; it would be a lot warmer with it. _All of a sudden, Radek was beside her, resting his broken arm on her side. He was pressed up all along her back, radiating warmth. Normally, she would be uncomfortable like this, but she was too cold to care. She finally drifted off to sleep, feeling strangely safe.

Feeling Elizabeth relax into sleep, Radek let out a breath of relief. He had not been sleeping; his arm was hurting too much for that. He could hear Elizabeth moving around, and knew she wasn't sleeping either. _She must be cold. I know I am, and I have my jacket. _ He felt a little guilty for that. She should have used his jacket for the sling, but it would have been agony getting it off. He couldn't give her jacket back, but maybe he could do something else. He crawled over, and positioned himself along her back. He placed his bad arm on her ribs, hoping that he hadn't overstepped his bounds. She stiffened a little, but then relaxed and seemed to fall asleep. More comfortable then he felt he should be, he also fell asleep.

"It sounds like you saw an Asgard transport beam. That means they can't be very far away! Sheppard, we have to go back, maybe there's something that could tell us what happened!"

"I do not believe it is a good idea to go back. We still do not know what happened. We do not want to lose any more people to this…transporter beam." Teyla looked unhappy as she spoke, but it needed saying. They couldn't rush in and risk losing more people, no matter how much they wanted to. Rodney looked affronted, then realized the sense of what Teyla had said.

"I know that, but…." He trailed off, a look that John knew well appearing on his face.

"Spill McKay. I know you have an idea, so share it with the rest of us."

"Major, you say Sergeant Cyncad was already inside the ruin when Radek and Elizabeth disappeared right? So we don't send someone else, we send someone who has already been there. We send Sergeant Cyncad back to the planet with a camera, he photographs everything inside the ruin, and comes back here. Then I can figure out what happened to Radek and Elizabeth."

John tried to come up with a problem in the plan. It sounded like it would work, but they had all learned that Pegasus routinely threw wrenches into plans. That didn't mean they wouldn't try, but that they had to be prepared for anything. Still, the fact that Cyncad had already been inside twice made it unlikely that whatever happened to Weir and Zelenka would happen to him.

"You have a go. Send Cyncad, and find one of the linguists to help you translate the writing. We need to find them as soon as possible, we don't know where they are or what cold be happening to them. " John was happy that they had a plan. The sooner they found Radek and Elizabeth the better. He was concerned about the amount of supplies they had, and their ability to find other means of support. Neither of them had survival training, other than the basic "Survival 101", and neither routinely went off world to get more practice. Zelenka in particular was hopeless off planet. He was brilliant in the labs, but out of his element off planet.

"We'll get them back. We have to."

Radek woke up first the next morning. Elizabeth had curled up in a tight ball to stay warm, and he had wrapped himself around her. He was still cold, but his back was much colder than his front. He was hungry, thirsty, cold and wet. Elizabeth started to stir, and then woke up.

"Morning. How is your arm feeling?"

"It is still broken. Do you have any more Tylenol?"

She grinned, and fishing the bottle out handed him two more of the little white pills. Since they didn't have any water, he had to dry swallow them. It was kind of ironic that they were soaked to the skin, but had no water to drink. They didn't even have anything to collect the rain in, and standing in the rain with your mouth open wasn't a very good idea.

"Elizabeth, you should take your jacket back. We can find something else to use as a sling. You need your jacket more than I do." Much as it pained him to say that, Elizabeth was shivering and her jacket would help with that.

Elizabeth smiled at him, "Radek, I would love to take my jacket back, but you still need it more than me. If you don't have support for your arm, you won't be able to go far, and we can't stay here. We need to find water and hopefully a place out of the rain. We need a place to stay so Rodney and John can find us. Keep it for now."

Radek acquiesced, vowing to insist on giving her jacket back if it got any colder, regardless of what she said. He didn't want her to get hypothermia because she was too stubborn to take care of herself.

They decided not to eat the last power bar yet, it was all they had, and they weren't too hungry yet. The next thing they needed to do was find some water. To that end, they stood up and started walking. They still didn't know where they were going, but moving was better than staying in one place and doing nothing. It rained steadily as they walked, but at least the temperature stayed steady. After several hours of walking, they had still not found a source of water or shelter. They took a break, and each had a bite of the last power bar. It didn't assuage the hunger they felt, but it was better than nothing. After a short break, they started walking again. They didn't find anything, and several hours later the sun started to go down again. They decided to stop for the night. To try to keep each other warm, they sat with Elizabeth's back to a tree with Radek in front of her leaning against her and her arms around him. Under any other circumstance, Radek would have been elated to be in that position. As it was, he just huddled into Elizabeth, trying to glean a bit of warmth from her. The cold, hunger and small amount of sleep had taken a toll. They both fell asleep sitting under that tree.

They awoke stiff, cold and still hungry. Elizabeth was shaking harder than she had been, even though the temperature has stayed constant.

"Elizabeth, you must take your jacket back now. You will get sick if you get too cold, and I will not let that happen. I can support my bad arm with my good arm if I must, but you are taking your jacket back."

"Radek..."

"No Elizabeth, I must insist. We have problems enough without you getting sick. If that happens, I can not carry you, and we still don't have any water. If I must, I will take your jacket off myself, no matter what that will do to me. It seems that Colonel Sheppard isn't the only one with self-sacrificial tendencies."

Elizabeth looked mulish for a minute, but Radek had been practicing his glare on Rodney for the past two years, and recognising the futility of arguing, she sighed and gave in. She untied the knot in the arms of her jacket, and gently eased from around Radek. He paled a little, and cradled his broken arm to his chest. She put her jacket on, the arms were a little stretched, but other than that it was fine. She pulled it a little bit tighter, already feeling better for wearing it, and reluctantly got to her feet.

"Radek, I know you're hurting, but we need to keep moving. We have to be getting close to water now. Once we get to some, we can stop, and stay in one place."

"I know. Help me up. How are you doing? Are you feeling warmer?"

"I am. Thank-you Radek. I know I can be a bit stubborn, but I guess you're getting good at dealing with stubborn, aren't you?"

He blushed, and stammered something that may have been a denial, whether about her being stubborn, or him having practice dealing with it, she couldn't tell.

"Lets get moving. Hopefully we'll find something today."

It was still raining, and neither of them was in the mood for talking. The rain, the cold, the grey, the hunger, not knowing where they were going, or how long it would take to get home, was wearing on them. They were both very cold, and their progress had slowed considerably.

Elizabeth had just turned around to see how Radek was doing, when the rocks she was standing on shifted, and threw her off balance. She took a step to steady herself, and stepped into a depression. That caused her ankle to roll, and she fell to the ground. She started to stand up, gasped, and collapsed back to the ground. Radek came up to her. "Elizabeth? What's wrong?"

"I think I just broke my ankle. I can't stand, which means I can't walk on it. Radek, you'll have to keep going. Find water, and bring some back. I'll wait here for you."

"Elizabeth, that plan won't work. I don't know where I am going, I'd probably get lost coming back, leaving us both alone. I also can't carry anything, even if we did have anything to store water in. Lastly, I don't know if splitting up is the best thing to do. If we fall asleep separately, we loose more heat than if we stay close together."

His face went bright red as he said that last, but didn't back down. "We'll just have to stay here, and hope Colonel Sheppard and Rodney find us soon."

Elizabeth just sighed, and nodded. "Help me up. I can't stay here. We'll shelter under that tree over there," and pointed to a huge tree with thick branches that would keep the worst of the rain off their heads.

Radek nodded, and extended his good hand. That left his bad arm unsupported, but Elizabeth needed help getting up. She took his hand, and managed to get up without putting too much weight on her bad leg. She didn't want to hop, that would jar Radek too badly, so she sort of limped along, trying to not put weight on her leg. They were both shaking and in pain by the time they got to the tree they were planning on staying under. Elizabeth sank down to the ground with a relieved exhalation. Radek followed, he wasn't in any better shape. She lay down and curled up, cold and miserable. Once again she felt Radek lie down behind her and wrap himself around her. He had to be careful where he rested his broken arm, but he eventually found something that didn't put too much strain on it.

_This is much better than lying by myself,_ Elizabeth had to admit to herself. She started feeling a bit warmer, and the feeling of safety came back.

She and Radek lay under the tree, and gradually the temperature started to drop again. They both started to shiver again, and huddled even closer to each other.

Eventually exhaustion set in and they both fell asleep.

As they slept, the temperature kept dropping, and sleep turned into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Stargate Atlantis isn't mine. I make no money doing this.

* * *

Rodney's plan worked to perfection. Sergeant Cyncad walked into the ruin, picked up Radek's backpack, photographed everything in sight, and came back, unscathed. When he returned, Rodney practically tackled him, wrestling the equipment away and running to the lab. John followed hard on his heels.

"Rodney, can you find out what happened to them? Do you have any ideas?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I've been studying the problem for all of three seconds. Not even the smartest man in two galaxies needs a little more time than that." As he spoke, he was transferring the photos of the ruin to his computer.

"Of course all the writing is in Ancient. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, I'd would just get Elizabeth to translate. Now I need that linguist, Dr. Caffeine, or whatever her name is. Sheppard, get her for me, I'm busy."

John grinned, impressed by Rodney's ability to create chaos in every kind of situation. He left the lab, heading for the linguistics labs to get Dr. Kethen, the linguist Rodney had asked for, if somewhat indirectly.

Several hours later, John was in the control room, when Rodney burst in.

"I know why Radek and Elizabeth were transported, and Sergeant Cyncad and Major Lorne weren't. It seems the Ancients were working on something they didn't want anyone else to get hold of. They installed scanners at the entrance. Those scanners are designed to genetically scan anyone who enters. They then transport anyone who isn't an Ancient somewhere. I haven't figured that out yet. But Sergeant Cyncad and Major Lorne both have the gene. Radek and Elizabeth don't. The scanner saw that and didn't let them in."  
"But why would it leave their equipment behind?" wondered John.

"I would have thought that would be obvious. If the Wraith had gotten there, the Ancients wanted to get rid of them, and not let the intruders call for help, and possibly invite an invasion."

John looked concerned, like an unpleasant idea had just occurred to him. "How do we know they are still alive then?"

Rodney blanched, "I'm sure the Ancients didn't want to risk killing innocent wanderers. If a trader had wound up in the lab, he would be transported, and presumably the Ancients could rescue him."

John could see all sorts of holes in that logic, but decided not to say anything. He wasn't ready to consider the alternative to a plain transporter beam.

"Good work Rodney. Now all you have to do is figure out where the beam goes."

"Right, right. All I have to do. This isn't hard or anything. Not to mention the only other close to competent person around is the person I am trying to rescue!" His voice grew louder with every word, until he was shouting.

John actually looked at him for the first time. "Rodney, have you had anything to eat lately?"

"John, I am trying to rescue Radek and Elizabeth. I don't have time to eat."

"Rodney, take half an hour and get something to eat. We have no chance of finding them without you, and you are going to collapse soon if you don't. We need you alert, not collapsing from low blood sugar. Maybe an idea will come to you as you eat."

Rodney looked mulish for a second, then gave in and headed toward the mess hall. John watched him go, and hoped like hell he could come up with something.

"I figured it out!!!" Rodney came running into the room. "I know where Radek and Elizabeth are!"

John was still standing in the control room. He hadn't really left, he couldn't do anything useful, so he tried to stay out of the way and let the experts work. It was hard. Harder than he thought it was going to be, but after Rodney threw him out of the lab for asking how things were going for the fifth time in ten minutes, he did his best.

"Where are they?" Rodney seemed taken aback at the intensity of John's question.

"They are on a moon about a 10 hour jumper flight from the planet the ruins are on. There isn't a gate on that moon, so we will have to fly."  
"What about the _Daedalus_? Can it get there faster?" asked John.

"No. They're too far away. It will be faster to gate to the planet and fly the jumper there. We should leave immediately. We have to get there as soon as possible. It's already been two days. With no supplies, Radek and Elizabeth will be in real trouble by now."  
"Good work McKay. Just one question. A moon is still a very large place. How are we going to get remotely close to them?"  
"Ah. We will need Ronon or Teyla for that. We send them to the planet, and into the ruin. Neither of them have the gene, so they should be transported to the moon. We implant a subcutaneous transmitter so we can find them when we get to the moon. Ronon then tracks them, and Carson treats them, and we bring them home."

"Good plan Rodney. Get Carson. We leave in 10 minutes."

Ten hours later, the jumper entered orbit around the moon.

"Sheppard to Atlantis. Send Ronan and Teyla through."

John had debated sending them through first, before they got to the planet, but decided not to. Even if he had sent medics through, they would have no supplies, wouldn't really be able to do anything for Radek or Elizabeth if they were hurt. He decided it would be better to wait, and get Carson there as soon as he could. Rodney turned the scanners on, and started scanning for Teyla and Ronon. They showed up on the scanners moments later, and he landed the jumper where they were.

"Ronon, were they here?"

Ronon was looking at the ground. "It's raining. That makes it harder to track. The tracks are faint, but there." With that, he was off. John went after him, with Carson and McKay following him. Carson was lugging a large amount of medical equipment with him. They all hoped he wouldn't need it, but had it anyway, just in case.

Several hours later, they had found their missing teammates. They were lying in front of a tree, curled up together. It looked like they were sleeping, but when John tried to wake them up, they were unresponsive. Carson pushed John out of the way, and did a cursory examination.

"Colonel, they are hypothermic, dehydrated, and undernourished. In addition, Radek has a broken arm, and Elizabeth has a broken ankle. I need to get them back to Atlantis as soon as I can to start treating them. I can start here, but I don't have everything I need."

"We can't land the jumper here, it's too treed. We'll have to carry them back to where we landed."

Ronon picked up Radek, leaving John to carry Elizabeth. He carefully picked her up, surprised at how light she was. She had always been slender, but it seemed like she had lost a bunch of weight in three days. He and Ronon hurried back to the jumper to get back to Atlantis.

John, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon stood in the 'waiting room' of the infirmary. Carson had thrown everyone who wasn't medical staff out after being asked the same questions every ten seconds. The team was now waiting for news. Hopefully they would be fine.

Carson appeared, and immediately a storm of questions were aired. He opened his mouth to answer and all of a sudden everyone was quiet.

"They'll be fine. Hypothermia, dehydration, and I'm guessing neither has eaten much if anything. It was close though. They were in stage two hypothermia. It's a good thing we found them when we did. They have both lost weight, they expended lots of energy walking, and keeping warm in the chill and the rain. In one way it was good the moon was so cool and wet. If it'd been hot and sunny, I think we'd be having a very different conversation. I've set and casted the broken bones, they weren't serious breaks, but Elizabeth needs to stay off her feet for a few weeks, and Radek's arm will be in a cast for few weeks as well. Rodney, that means no typing, even if he could with a cast on his arm. I'm taking them both of active duty for a while."

John looked at him, "Can we see them, even just for a second?"

"Alright. They're asleep right now, so don't wake them up. The best thing for them right now is sleep. You have five minutes."lead the group into the main part of the infirmary. Radek and Elizabeth were lying in beds, almost invisible under the piles of blankets on them. They were both hooked up to IV lines, and their faces looked pale. He hoped Elizabeth would be all right, but purely as a friend. He knew that some people on Atlantis thought that there was something going on between the two of them, but they were wrong. He looked upon Elizabeth as his boss and very dear friend, but nothing more. He had been watching her interact with Radek, and thought there may be something between them. He hoped so. Both of them were lonely, although neither would admit it.

He leaned over to her and whispered, "Get well Elizabeth. I don't want to be in charge for very long."

He then went to Radek, "Radek, get well. We don't want to have to listen to Rodney complain that the only semi-competent person here can't work any longer than we have to."

He was aware that Rodney was shooting him a glare for that comment, but didn't say anything. He knew Rodney really cared, but hid behind his bluster and irascibility.

"That's enough now. You need to let them rest, that's what they need now." With those words, Carson ushered the team out of the infirmary.

Elizabeth woke up to darkness. She wasn't sure where she was, or how she had gotten there, but she did know that she felt cold. She curled tighter into a ball, and tried to burrow deeper into the blankets piled on her. She was still cold, but felt marginally better. Suddenly, she felt someone slide up behind her, and lift up the blankets she was trying to burrow under. She felt the person wrap around her, and the blankets settled back down around them. That made her feel warm, and safe, and so she fell back to sleep.

Radek had woken up at the same time as Elizabeth, and he saw her curling up and dragging the blankets over her. He was a little chilly himself, and, remembering how much warmer he felt when curled up with her, crossed the floor, and got into the bed with her. Infirmary beds were not really made for two, but with Elizabeth curled up so tightly, and him wrapped around her, they fit just fine. He went back to sleep, feeling warmer and happy he was helping Elizabeth.

Carson came in the next morning, and found them sleeping like that. He was loath to wake them, but he needed to assess them again. He gently shook Radek on the shoulder, and he woke. He blinked at Carson for a few seconds, before reaching over to get his glasses from the table beside his bed. The only problem was he wasn't in his bed, and his arm banged Elizabeth on the head, waking her as well.

"Carson? We're back in Atlantis? When did you find us? Why am I sharing a bed with Radek?"

Carson grinned at that last question, and did his best to answer her. "We found you yesterday, and brought you home. You both were hypothermic, and dehydrated, Radek has a broken arm, and you a broken ankle. As to why you and Radek are sharing a bed, when I left, you both were sleeping in separate beds. Radek moved over for some reason during the night."

At those words, Radek blushed fiery red and started stammering that he didn't mean to intrude, or invade her privacy.

"Relax Radek. I felt you slide into the bed last night. I could have said something then, but I was cold, and you helped with that."

"Are you still cold? I can get you more blankets if you are." Carson was concerned. He had taken her temperature, and it was back to normal, so she shouldn't be cold anymore.

"No, I feel better now. Thank you Carson, Radek."

Carson couldn't find anything much to keep either of them in the infirmary for much longer.

"Well, I'm going to bring you something to eat. If you can eat and keep it down, I'll be releasing you this afternoon."

Later that afternoon, both Radek and Elizabeth were released. Carson had made sure they both understood that that didn't mean back on duty. He wasn't letting them back on duty until their casts were off. He made sure John and Rodney understood that. He knew that if asked, Radek and Elizabeth would 'forget' his directions if they felt that someone needed them, and he wanted to make sure that didn't happen. He had been a little amused at the speed that they had disappeared from his little domain when he finally had given permission,

The next day, Elizabeth started looking for Radek. She hadn't seen him since they were released. Everywhere she went, he wasn't. She had looked in the mess hall, the rec room, even in the labs. She was starting to think he was avoiding her, so she tried one last place. That was how she wound up standing in front of the door to his quarters. She knocked, and was rewarded with a very startled looking Radek.

"Radek. Can I talk to you for a bit? Please?" _This is ridiculous. I'm a diplomat and a linguist. I used to make my living using words. How can I not know what to say? At least he looks at least as nervous as I feel._

"Elizabeth. Of course. Come in."

She entered his quarters, and they both sat on the sofa. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, as both waited for the other to start.

Elizabeth had just opened her mouth to say something, when Radek beat her to it.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to intrude on your space or force myself on you. I just saw that you were cold, and I wanted to help you, and the only way I knew how to was to, well you know. All I knew was I didn't like seeing you so cold. If I offended you, I'm sorry. If you want, I'll go back to earth on the _Daedalus_."

She was surprised at what he was saying.

"Radek, you didn't offend me. You helped me. We were out in the rain and cold, and the only way we had to keep warm was what we did. Even if I didn't like you, you wouldn't have offended me. As it stands, I'm grateful for what you did. You made me look after myself, not just you. And as for going back to Earth, no. We need you here, and if you really wanted to go, I'd be very surprised."  
"Well, what about in the infirmary. We weren't trying to survive there? I still intruded on you."  
"Radek, we talked about that already. I could have pushed you away, but I didn't. I felt so warm and safe with you there. If I had to be stranded with anyone, I'd want it to be you."  
"Really? You might be right. Next time you want to spend time with me, could you please find a less stressful and dangerous way?"

Elizabeth was startled into laughter that Radek joined a second later.

"I'll try. How about lunch in the mess hall? If you remember, we have all these days off. You can carry my tray for me, as I have to use these crutches to get around, or face the wrath of Carson."

"Of course. No one wants to face the wrath of an offended Scotsman. That can be dangerous to your health.

Elizabeth, are you sure you want to do this?"  
"I'm sure Radek. Lets go have lunch."

The two of them left his quarters and started to the mess hall, and into whatever the future held.

The End

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked the story. I'm working on my dialogue, this is the first story I've written that isn't totally discription. Let me know how I did. 


End file.
